Los Ausentes
(2019)
‘Los Ausentes’ restages a table that appeared in the Venice Biennial of 1976, where Spain was unofficially invited to occupy the central pavilion. In the exhibition "Spain: Artistic Vanguard and Social Reality (1936 - 1976*)" the curators Valeriano Bozal and Tomàs Llorens set up an empty dinner scenario, symbolically honouring missing and exiled artists and academics who’d fled or disappeared during the Spanish Dictatorship by placing their names on placeholders at each seat.
In this reinterpretation, the table reminisces the ‘tertulias’ - social gatherings that take place typically in cafes or public and cultural settings, which used to be a common ritual to discuss current affairs. The absence of chairs reflects on the progressive disappearance of collectivity and dialogue and on the general state of spiritual disaffection. Yet, at the same time it points out precisely at the necessity of the ritual of gathering and communion and it invites us to join the dinner table at any given time.
‘Los Ausentes’ restages a table that appeared in the Venice Biennial of 1976, where Spain was unofficially invited to occupy the central pavilion. In the exhibition "Spain: Artistic Vanguard and Social Reality (1936 - 1976*)" the curators Valeriano Bozal and Tomàs Llorens set up an empty dinner scenario, symbolically honouring missing and exiled artists and academics who’d fled or disappeared during the Spanish Dictatorship by placing their names on placeholders at each seat.
In this reinterpretation, the table reminisces the ‘tertulias’ - social gatherings that take place typically in cafes or public and cultural settings, which used to be a common ritual to discuss current affairs. The absence of chairs reflects on the progressive disappearance of collectivity and dialogue and on the general state of spiritual disaffection. Yet, at the same time it points out precisely at the necessity of the ritual of gathering and communion and it invites us to join the dinner table at any given time.
When the pure shapes sank
under the chirping of daisies,
I knew they had murdered me.
They combed the cafés, graveyards, and churches for me,
pried open casks and cabinets,
destroyed three skeletons in order to rip out their gold teeth. But they couldn’t find me anymore.
They couldn’t?
No, they couldn’t find me.
But they discovered the sixth moon had fled against the torrent, and the sea—suddenly!—remembered
the names of all its drowned.
When the pure shapes sank
under the chirping of daisies,
I knew they had murdered me.
They combed the cafés, graveyards, and churches for me,
pried open casks and cabinets,
destroyed three skeletons in order to rip out their gold teeth. But they couldn’t find me anymore.
They couldn’t?
No, they couldn’t find me.
But they discovered the sixth moon had fled against the torrent, and the sea—suddenly!—remembered
the names of all its drowned.
From Fable of Three Friends to Be Sung in Rounds
Federico García Lorca
*1976 marks the first year of the Spanish democratic transition after 40 years of Francoist Regime
ARTWORK DETAILS
Los Ausentes, 2019
Dypthic. Size not specified
Gelatin silver hand print
The Landscape of a Tablecloth, 2019
Size not specified
Gelatin silver hand print
ARTWORK DETAILS
Los Ausentes, 2019
Dypthic. Size not specified
Gelatin silver hand print
The Landscape of a Tablecloth, 2019
Size not specified
Gelatin silver hand print